ITV

Tag: Magicbricks Now

  • Times Network targets jet set with Luxury Time across six channels

    Times Network targets jet set with Luxury Time across six channels

    MUMBAI:  Ever got the liberty to choose a platform for the consumption of your favourite content? And no, we are not talking about digital but our own traditional television. Times Network is launching a new show titled Luxury Time. The show is placed on the weekend primetime slots of not one or two but across six of its channels-  ET Now, Times Now, Magicbricks Now, Romedy Now HD, Romedy Now SD and MN+.

    Reason: not dissecting the audience but giving it the power to choose a platform, whether they want to watch the show on the news channels or English entertainment channels.

    Slated to go on air from 27 August, the debut season will comprise of 12 episodes of 30 minutes each and will span across categories like travel, lifestyle, personal care, accessories, fashion, gourmet, gadgets and premium stationery. The show promises to showcase luxury in the true sense – luxurious living, aspirational brands, gourmet cuisines, exotic destinations and the likes.

    Luxury Time is targeted at the 10.2 million strong English speaking audience and aims to be an international barometer of luxury and sophistication. It has been shot internationally and in various places within India with a bank of three to four shows ready.

    “The luxury industry in India is a fast growing industry with an average growth rate of 15 per cent to 20 per cent. Being the strongest in the English language space, reaching to 67 per cent of the English speaking audience, our network attracts the leisured and privileged class of the HNIs,” says Times Network president revenue Ashit Kukian. “This makes the network and the show the best platform for luxury industry to connect with its target audience and offer viewers unique experiences within the world of luxury.

    Each episode will feature notable experts and celebrities who will talk about the latest trends in each of the categories. The show promises top brands such as:  Bulgari CEO Jean-Christophe Babin, Chopard co-president and creative director Caroline Scheufele, Tag Heuer CEO Jean-Claude Biver, Breitling VP Jean-Paul Girardin, Maharaja Gajendra Singh ji of The Ummaid Bhavan Palace in Jodhpur, jewelry designer Nirav Modi, fashion designer Raghavendra Singh Rathore and  Gauri Devidayal, Partner – The Table, etc.

    He further added “It is expected that in 2020, the average age of an Indian will be 29 years, which reflects that the spending power of this population will continue to grow and they will be spending over 40% of their monthly income on some of the world’s largest luxury brands. And keeping the same in mind, the timing for launching the show now was most appropriate to reach millennial’s who are ready for exclusive experiences. Luxury Time will showcase forward-thinking ideas in luxury travel, business, culture, fashion, food and technology.”

    Though the show has no sponsors or advertisers on board as of yet, Kukian believes that once the first episode goes on air, advertisers and viewers will latch onto it automatically. “We have clearly gone with the content need and are open for an advertiser to get on board. Brand integration definitely is a good opportunity and can happen in the future,” he added.

    Given the strength of the group, Luxury Time will be promoted across all the networks’ channels. Once it gets good traction, the channel will strategize the show’s marketing on various other mediums.

    It will be interesting to observe what benefits will this window to the luxury world bring for the entire network.  

    Channels Date / Days Original Telecast Repeat Telecast
    Times Now 27th & 28th Aug (Sat & Sun) 6:30 PM 11:30 AM
    ET Now 27th & 28th Aug (Sat & Sun) 10:30 PM 3:30 PM
    Magicbricks Now 27th & 28th Aug (Sat & Sun) 6:30 PM & 10:30 PM 3:30 PM & 6:30 AM
    Romedy Now HD 27th & 28th Aug (Sat & Sun) 10:00 AM 8:30 AM
    Romedy Now SD 27th & 28th Aug (Sat & Sun) 10:00 AM 8:30 AM
    MN+ 2nd & 3rd Sep (Friday & Sat) 8:30 PM 9:00 AM
  • ET Now strengthens brand presence through B2B campaign ‘Dealing Room Heroes’

    ET Now strengthens brand presence through B2B campaign ‘Dealing Room Heroes’

    MUMBAI: After securing a solid positioning as a popular news destination, Times Network, heralded by its flagship channels Times Now and ET Now, is set to strengthen its brand presence amongst clients, advertisers and other businesses through a business-to-business (B2B) approach.

    We saw a fine example of its B2B marketing at Goafest 2016, where, through a quirky campaign targeted at the advertising industry, Times Network emphasised the growth of consumers of English content in India.

    A similar targeted messaging is brought forth in a latest campaign titled ‘Dealing Room Heroes’ that ET Now has initiated.  Starting June 9, ET Now has started visiting the participating well known stock brokerage houses and interacting with their leadership teams to explore what they consider the biggest achievements of the organization in the FY 2015-16, and felicitate key performers from the Dealing Room of each organisation.

    “Now that we have established our leadership position in various markets, we needed to go beyond being leaders in numbers and on air, and focus on making our brand more accessible and relevant to our consumers. As a business news channel we have three forms of consumers — the viewers, the advertisers and media agencies and the stock traders. To reach out to the stock brokers and traders who form an integral part of our consumer base, we have launched this new campaign. It allows us to partner with individual broking firms and celebrate the number crunching and data analysis that goes down in the Dealing Room of a brokerage firm,” revealed Times Network Head of Marketing – Times Now, ET Now, Magicbricks Now & Zoom Shantanu Gangane.

    So far ET Now has partnered with nine brokerage houses including IIFL, Kotak Securities, Motilal Oswal, MK Global, etc., with its first destination for the campaign being Mumbai. Those honoured through this campaign will also find a place on air on ET Now in the form of a two to three minute vignette that will showcase how the person went about dealing. This will run in the channel in high frequency across day parts with special focus on prime time and market hour.  Running for three weeks in each market the campaign may prolong depending on the feedback from each region. When asked, Gangane clarified that the partnerships with the brokerage firms on this campaign weren’t on a commercial level. As per the network, this is a first of a kind initiative by a business channel globally.

    When it came to addressing the viewers through a B2C messaging, in February, ET Now did an engaging activation with its viewers titled ‘Kem Chho Gujarat’ an investor welfare initiative by ET Now.  With this initiative the channel took experts from the financial fraternity and its anchors on ground to address some of the queries in the state in the sector. “It was a complete on ground, on air and online initiative, where consumers got to meet the experts and the anchors face to face,” Gangane shared. 

    In a similar fashion Magicbricks Now had also initiated the ‘Urban Debate’ where real estate issues of a given area were taken up and addressed through an on ground event that was telecast. 

    Since both Urban Debate and Kem Chho Gujrat were consumer initiatives, the channel used a lot of tools to promote audience participation and registration for event, be it in the form of digital promotions, print ads or promos that run within the network where it can target the relevant audience. The strategy differs a bit when it comes to Dealing Room Heroes, for which the channel focusses on print ads, magazines that are popular within the brokerage industry, for example Dalal Street Journal, and optimise the marketing on the channel itself.

    Gangane acknowledged the need to think differently when conceptualizing a campaign targeted towards masses and specifically towards businesses or brands. The medium of communication is very important when planning campaign in B2B versus B2C, Gangane said, “When going B2B you cannot carpet bomb, like you intend a marketing blitzkrieg. B2B relies a lot on you optimizing reach and frequency. In B2B communication one needs to be direct, contextual to the target brand or business. That’s where the media mix becomes important. As far as the communication is concerned, it needs to be more relatable rather than eye catching and attention seeking.”

    Given the different planning of media mixes for each approach, the budgeting changes as well. One might think that a high decibel mass campaign was more expensive, but Gangage revealed that getting the right audience could be an expensive affair as well. “If you are going for quality and sharp focus, you may sometimes end up paying more.”

    While Gangage did not divulge the network’s split of marketing budgets in B2B and B2C campaigns, he explained the mindset behind the allotments. “It is very specific to the objective, honestly. For example for a brand building campaign for the entire Times Network, the budget allotted for B2B would be 80 per cent approximately. But if we are launching a show on a particular channel, spend will be more on the B2C side.”

    Speaking from a network standpoint, Gangane highlighted that none of the brands were dormant when it came to visibility amongst consumers, be it Times Now, Zoom or Movies Now and Romedy Now. “Each of the brands are buzzing in their own way. Having said that, Times Network as a whole did initiate a larger brand communication earlier this year, which will see some more work on audience metrics in the upcoming months,” Gangane added in parting.
     

  • ET Now strengthens brand presence through B2B campaign ‘Dealing Room Heroes’

    ET Now strengthens brand presence through B2B campaign ‘Dealing Room Heroes’

    MUMBAI: After securing a solid positioning as a popular news destination, Times Network, heralded by its flagship channels Times Now and ET Now, is set to strengthen its brand presence amongst clients, advertisers and other businesses through a business-to-business (B2B) approach.

    We saw a fine example of its B2B marketing at Goafest 2016, where, through a quirky campaign targeted at the advertising industry, Times Network emphasised the growth of consumers of English content in India.

    A similar targeted messaging is brought forth in a latest campaign titled ‘Dealing Room Heroes’ that ET Now has initiated.  Starting June 9, ET Now has started visiting the participating well known stock brokerage houses and interacting with their leadership teams to explore what they consider the biggest achievements of the organization in the FY 2015-16, and felicitate key performers from the Dealing Room of each organisation.

    “Now that we have established our leadership position in various markets, we needed to go beyond being leaders in numbers and on air, and focus on making our brand more accessible and relevant to our consumers. As a business news channel we have three forms of consumers — the viewers, the advertisers and media agencies and the stock traders. To reach out to the stock brokers and traders who form an integral part of our consumer base, we have launched this new campaign. It allows us to partner with individual broking firms and celebrate the number crunching and data analysis that goes down in the Dealing Room of a brokerage firm,” revealed Times Network Head of Marketing – Times Now, ET Now, Magicbricks Now & Zoom Shantanu Gangane.

    So far ET Now has partnered with nine brokerage houses including IIFL, Kotak Securities, Motilal Oswal, MK Global, etc., with its first destination for the campaign being Mumbai. Those honoured through this campaign will also find a place on air on ET Now in the form of a two to three minute vignette that will showcase how the person went about dealing. This will run in the channel in high frequency across day parts with special focus on prime time and market hour.  Running for three weeks in each market the campaign may prolong depending on the feedback from each region. When asked, Gangane clarified that the partnerships with the brokerage firms on this campaign weren’t on a commercial level. As per the network, this is a first of a kind initiative by a business channel globally.

    When it came to addressing the viewers through a B2C messaging, in February, ET Now did an engaging activation with its viewers titled ‘Kem Chho Gujarat’ an investor welfare initiative by ET Now.  With this initiative the channel took experts from the financial fraternity and its anchors on ground to address some of the queries in the state in the sector. “It was a complete on ground, on air and online initiative, where consumers got to meet the experts and the anchors face to face,” Gangane shared. 

    In a similar fashion Magicbricks Now had also initiated the ‘Urban Debate’ where real estate issues of a given area were taken up and addressed through an on ground event that was telecast. 

    Since both Urban Debate and Kem Chho Gujrat were consumer initiatives, the channel used a lot of tools to promote audience participation and registration for event, be it in the form of digital promotions, print ads or promos that run within the network where it can target the relevant audience. The strategy differs a bit when it comes to Dealing Room Heroes, for which the channel focusses on print ads, magazines that are popular within the brokerage industry, for example Dalal Street Journal, and optimise the marketing on the channel itself.

    Gangane acknowledged the need to think differently when conceptualizing a campaign targeted towards masses and specifically towards businesses or brands. The medium of communication is very important when planning campaign in B2B versus B2C, Gangane said, “When going B2B you cannot carpet bomb, like you intend a marketing blitzkrieg. B2B relies a lot on you optimizing reach and frequency. In B2B communication one needs to be direct, contextual to the target brand or business. That’s where the media mix becomes important. As far as the communication is concerned, it needs to be more relatable rather than eye catching and attention seeking.”

    Given the different planning of media mixes for each approach, the budgeting changes as well. One might think that a high decibel mass campaign was more expensive, but Gangage revealed that getting the right audience could be an expensive affair as well. “If you are going for quality and sharp focus, you may sometimes end up paying more.”

    While Gangage did not divulge the network’s split of marketing budgets in B2B and B2C campaigns, he explained the mindset behind the allotments. “It is very specific to the objective, honestly. For example for a brand building campaign for the entire Times Network, the budget allotted for B2B would be 80 per cent approximately. But if we are launching a show on a particular channel, spend will be more on the B2C side.”

    Speaking from a network standpoint, Gangane highlighted that none of the brands were dormant when it came to visibility amongst consumers, be it Times Now, Zoom or Movies Now and Romedy Now. “Each of the brands are buzzing in their own way. Having said that, Times Network as a whole did initiate a larger brand communication earlier this year, which will see some more work on audience metrics in the upcoming months,” Gangane added in parting.
     

  • ‘The joy is in the journey and the journey for me is only journalism till the last breath:’ Arnab Goswami

    ‘The joy is in the journey and the journey for me is only journalism till the last breath:’ Arnab Goswami

    Arnab Goswami needs no introduction. He is the man who proved that high decibel is not always harmful and that sometimes it plays a pivotal role to awaken those in deep slumber. Opinionated journalism is not a bad thing if that opinion leads to a change for good. Sensationalism is not a crisis if done for the benefit of the society. Not following the traditional may give birth to something for the traditional to later follow. All these daring aspects are the gut feeling of the man who has redefined broadcast journalism in India. He along with his team has changed how media was consumed and perceived.

    Social consciousness was invoked time and again in the debates he conducted. The topics gave news a whole new dimension; the decibel levels brought the stories alive for viewers; the questions and counter questions heightened the bring-in-a-change quotient. His stories not only reflected the abysmal crisis in society but also exposed many a top notch officials. Be it Suresh Kalmadi in the CWG scam or Sushma Swaraj in Lalit Gate… backing down was never an option for him.

    He silenced naysayers early on with the famous lines crooned by Bob Dylan: Don’t speak too soon. For the wheel’s still in spin. And there’s no tellin’ who That it’s namin’. For the loser now, will be later to win. For the times they are a-changin’.

     He acknowledged every change and adapted accordingly to stay relevant and ahead of competition. If needed, he even resorted to speaking in Hindi on his English news channel. Ten years down the line, he is an established name and Times Now is the undisputed leader in its space. Not only in terms of viewership, the moolah that The Newshour rakes in now, is higher than that of many shows on GECs.

    Speaking to Indiantelevision.com’s Anirban Roy Choudhury, Times Now, ET Now and MagicBricks Now president – news and editor-in-chief expresses his profound love for journalism and speaks on competition’s mockery, the scams, investigative journalism and much more…

    Read on: 

    On screen on a Sunday morning, you break the Lalit Gate story. Incidentally the week before for the first time Times Now dropped down to second place. Was Lalit Gate an attempt to go back to number one?

    Actually, we had the story with us for almost three weeks before we broke it. These kind of stories doesn’t happen overnight. So we were working on it for a long period of time. We put it up on a Sunday typically because Sunday is a slow news cycle day. What we did not expect was the confirmation on the story from Sushma Swaraj’s office within 15 to 20 minutes, which led to the blow up. We take our time working on stories. Being a channel, which has been there done that, we don’t respond to things immediately. That one week that you are talking about was purely because of the double frequency model adopted by one channel, which failed very quickly and you can see the numbers now. We have been number one for 10 years on television and we are pretty immune to one or two weeks.

     

    How much does a campaign of a rival English news channel featuring mimicry of you and your show bother you?

    There is only one botheration from all that ape-mocking and negative campaigning that happens against me and Times Now and that is they are wasting their time trying to mock, mimic or ape us. People should stop wasting their time but if they want to pay more attention to us, they can. It only proves that they are also watching us all the time!

     

    There was a time when you were about to give up journalism and were standing in front of a PR firm with your CV in hand. Today, ten years later when you look back, are you glad that you did not give up journalism?

    I am very glad that I did not quit journalism. I feel I was very fortunate that I was given a chance to start a channel on my own, find my own team and get a group of people, who are willing to work with me. Also ten years back, I had not built a professional reputation of my own and I feel fortunate that people choose to share their professional years with me to take a big risk and start this channel. I am very grateful that I had the support of good people. I also feel fortunate that we have been able to go by our gut and change the way journalism is done. And it was not because our back was against the wall but because we felt this was the way forward. If I have to launch a channel all over again, I will go by gut instinct.

     

    Purulia Arms Drop was a piece of investigative journalism that turned to a documentary and got mass acclamation. Do you see investigative journalism, which is not the high decibel eight box debates getting more prominence?

    I think Purulia Arms Drop documentary, which led to foreign news organisations commissioning documentaries in it, is an amazing story. This is the kind of journalism I would like to do more and more. Going forward, when we explore different formats, the investigative format is the one that I will find most exciting.

     

    Despite having such high inclination towards investigative journalism, why did you publicly oppose the airing of India’s Daughter?

    I don’t think you can give a platform to a rapist on TV. It is ridiculous if a rapist is given a platform on TV to talk about how he is innocent when the matter is sub-judice. Will you give a platform to 1000 of rapists to go on air and justify why they are innocent? Will giving a rapist a platform not impact the victim as well as the rapist’s family? Is it not an interference in the judicial process? Of course it is!

     

    Even today I challenge such journalism. If giving a rapist a platform is good journalism, then I don’t believe in such journalism. It is disgraceful giving a rapist a platform. Certainly a foreigner with some interest in India cannot come and say that giving a rapist a platform is good journalism. Will they go to the US and the UK and give rapists there a platform to broadcast to the masses? It is morally wrong. It’s totally incorrect. I stand by my position and it was all on moral ground. I was cringing when I saw the clip of a rapist describing why he is innocent. Any right thinking person will cringe. Good journalism is Lalit Gate not giving a platform to a rapist; good journalism is breaking scams and not giving a platform to a rapist.

     

    How will you deal with a story from the hinterlands? Will you treat it with same detail as you do to a story breaking in the metros?

    We will do partnerships with regional channels to cover every story with utmost details. Our foot presence is low in those areas. For example, we have the largest TV presence with couple of camera crews, a consulting editor, two reporters a full VSAT 2 MBPs loop, an OB van and live view units. Compared to other channels, we are three times bigger in the North East. But if you ask me if it’s enough, well it’s certainly not! If something happens in Manipur, or upper Assam or Arunachal Pradesh, we are not in a position to connect in those regions. So we tie-up with regional channels like News Live and other local channels to ensure that we get the right news. These are all situation based tie-ups. While we don’t have formal associations with anyone, we have very strong informal understandings with channels across the country.

     

    If news was not a viewership and advertising led business in India, would you have followed the same form of journalism? Is this a rating led Arnab Goswami?

    Let me answer this in this way, there was no guarantee that the formats I was getting into would be successful. Without the guarantee, why did I start the format? Because I believed in it. I was a debater since I was in class seven. I think sometimes when you do things that you like, it works. TV is a transparent medium, you cannot lie on television or pretend to be something you are not. All those who pretend and lie, fail. And the ones who do things with honesty and purpose will succeed. So what we want is a group of producers and journalist saying, we want to see it the way it is. Sitting in Mumbai in the media business I couldn’t care less if it works or it doesn’t. I am not a Santa Clause. I’m not here to get affection or be popular. I am here to be relevant.

     

    How to you react to the perception that Times Now is as good as Arnab Goswami and that it’s a one man show? You must have heard it every now and then.

    I am the leader of my team of reporters and producers. I am as good as my team. My team believes in that and we work together. We are fortunate to have India’s best reporters working with us. I feel proud when I see a reporter who has just been with me for a year, covering a big political story. When we depute people for foreign assignments, I feel proud. We are the only channel to send reporters with the Prime Minister on his foreign visits. We deploy our reporters far quicker than our competition. Our speed of deploying reporters in a news space is far quicker than any other channel in India. If we need to deploy a particular person in a particular place, nobody can do it quicker than me and my logistics team. So in terms of production and logistics, we are far smarter than any other news channel in India. I cannot do anything about perception and frankly, I don’t care.

     

    Very often we see your peers from other media firms sharing their dislike for you. Does that somehow affect you?

    Since we have beaten every news channels in last ten years, I don’t expect to be liked by news channels and journalists. Since me and my team are not doing traditional journalism, I don’t expect the ones doing traditional journalism to like me. Also while we take away 60 per cent of the market share, the others are scrambling for the remaining 40 per cent. I don’t expect the ones scrambling for the 40 per cent to like me. How does it even matter if they don’t like me?

     

    How do you approach a legal sub-judice story?

    Generally when an issue goes to the realm of courts, we pull down. Most of the breaking stories like the 2G or CWG scams, we push with debates and discussions till the point it goes to the court. And once it goes to the court, we kind of pull back. We believe once it has gone to court, the court should look into it. We do not interfere in the judicial process.

     

    Social media is breaking stories in bits and bytes from every nook and corner. The news of Abdul Kalam’s death broke on Twitter. Do you see that impacting TV news?

    Breaking a big exclusive story has not yet happened on social media. But it’s good that social media is keeping us informed about things happening around us. That’s one thing but remember in the case of Abdul Kalam, we are talking about the demise of a former President. We will not put it up till we have an official confirmation. So there is no reason to presume that we did not have the news. It’s just that at times, we choose not to put the news till we receive official information on it.

     

    Your gut feeling and people management has taken Times Now to new heights in the last 10 years. The characteristics are exactly what is required for an entrepreneur. How far are you from your entrepreneurship voyage?

    Let’s see what happens in the future. Who can predict what happens in the future? I want to do nothing but journalism till my last breath. I want to do journalism in a way that we can make Indian media go global in the digital world. I want to do journalism in a way that people coming out of colleges should feel that the first job they want to do is with this team.

     

    The joy is in the journey and the journey for me is only journalism till the last breath. There may be many vehicles, Times Now itself has been an entrepreneurial journey for me. I never predict the future but the future can take me anywhere. Let’s see.

  • ‘The joy is in the journey and the journey for me is only journalism till the last breath:’ Arnab Goswami

    ‘The joy is in the journey and the journey for me is only journalism till the last breath:’ Arnab Goswami

    Arnab Goswami needs no introduction. He is the man who proved that high decibel is not always harmful and that sometimes it plays a pivotal role to awaken those in deep slumber. Opinionated journalism is not a bad thing if that opinion leads to a change for good. Sensationalism is not a crisis if done for the benefit of the society. Not following the traditional may give birth to something for the traditional to later follow. All these daring aspects are the gut feeling of the man who has redefined broadcast journalism in India. He along with his team has changed how media was consumed and perceived.

    Social consciousness was invoked time and again in the debates he conducted. The topics gave news a whole new dimension; the decibel levels brought the stories alive for viewers; the questions and counter questions heightened the bring-in-a-change quotient. His stories not only reflected the abysmal crisis in society but also exposed many a top notch officials. Be it Suresh Kalmadi in the CWG scam or Sushma Swaraj in Lalit Gate… backing down was never an option for him.

    He silenced naysayers early on with the famous lines crooned by Bob Dylan: Don’t speak too soon. For the wheel’s still in spin. And there’s no tellin’ who That it’s namin’. For the loser now, will be later to win. For the times they are a-changin’.

     He acknowledged every change and adapted accordingly to stay relevant and ahead of competition. If needed, he even resorted to speaking in Hindi on his English news channel. Ten years down the line, he is an established name and Times Now is the undisputed leader in its space. Not only in terms of viewership, the moolah that The Newshour rakes in now, is higher than that of many shows on GECs.

    Speaking to Indiantelevision.com’s Anirban Roy Choudhury, Times Now, ET Now and MagicBricks Now president – news and editor-in-chief expresses his profound love for journalism and speaks on competition’s mockery, the scams, investigative journalism and much more…

    Read on: 

    On screen on a Sunday morning, you break the Lalit Gate story. Incidentally the week before for the first time Times Now dropped down to second place. Was Lalit Gate an attempt to go back to number one?

    Actually, we had the story with us for almost three weeks before we broke it. These kind of stories doesn’t happen overnight. So we were working on it for a long period of time. We put it up on a Sunday typically because Sunday is a slow news cycle day. What we did not expect was the confirmation on the story from Sushma Swaraj’s office within 15 to 20 minutes, which led to the blow up. We take our time working on stories. Being a channel, which has been there done that, we don’t respond to things immediately. That one week that you are talking about was purely because of the double frequency model adopted by one channel, which failed very quickly and you can see the numbers now. We have been number one for 10 years on television and we are pretty immune to one or two weeks.

     

    How much does a campaign of a rival English news channel featuring mimicry of you and your show bother you?

    There is only one botheration from all that ape-mocking and negative campaigning that happens against me and Times Now and that is they are wasting their time trying to mock, mimic or ape us. People should stop wasting their time but if they want to pay more attention to us, they can. It only proves that they are also watching us all the time!

     

    There was a time when you were about to give up journalism and were standing in front of a PR firm with your CV in hand. Today, ten years later when you look back, are you glad that you did not give up journalism?

    I am very glad that I did not quit journalism. I feel I was very fortunate that I was given a chance to start a channel on my own, find my own team and get a group of people, who are willing to work with me. Also ten years back, I had not built a professional reputation of my own and I feel fortunate that people choose to share their professional years with me to take a big risk and start this channel. I am very grateful that I had the support of good people. I also feel fortunate that we have been able to go by our gut and change the way journalism is done. And it was not because our back was against the wall but because we felt this was the way forward. If I have to launch a channel all over again, I will go by gut instinct.

     

    Purulia Arms Drop was a piece of investigative journalism that turned to a documentary and got mass acclamation. Do you see investigative journalism, which is not the high decibel eight box debates getting more prominence?

    I think Purulia Arms Drop documentary, which led to foreign news organisations commissioning documentaries in it, is an amazing story. This is the kind of journalism I would like to do more and more. Going forward, when we explore different formats, the investigative format is the one that I will find most exciting.

     

    Despite having such high inclination towards investigative journalism, why did you publicly oppose the airing of India’s Daughter?

    I don’t think you can give a platform to a rapist on TV. It is ridiculous if a rapist is given a platform on TV to talk about how he is innocent when the matter is sub-judice. Will you give a platform to 1000 of rapists to go on air and justify why they are innocent? Will giving a rapist a platform not impact the victim as well as the rapist’s family? Is it not an interference in the judicial process? Of course it is!

     

    Even today I challenge such journalism. If giving a rapist a platform is good journalism, then I don’t believe in such journalism. It is disgraceful giving a rapist a platform. Certainly a foreigner with some interest in India cannot come and say that giving a rapist a platform is good journalism. Will they go to the US and the UK and give rapists there a platform to broadcast to the masses? It is morally wrong. It’s totally incorrect. I stand by my position and it was all on moral ground. I was cringing when I saw the clip of a rapist describing why he is innocent. Any right thinking person will cringe. Good journalism is Lalit Gate not giving a platform to a rapist; good journalism is breaking scams and not giving a platform to a rapist.

     

    How will you deal with a story from the hinterlands? Will you treat it with same detail as you do to a story breaking in the metros?

    We will do partnerships with regional channels to cover every story with utmost details. Our foot presence is low in those areas. For example, we have the largest TV presence with couple of camera crews, a consulting editor, two reporters a full VSAT 2 MBPs loop, an OB van and live view units. Compared to other channels, we are three times bigger in the North East. But if you ask me if it’s enough, well it’s certainly not! If something happens in Manipur, or upper Assam or Arunachal Pradesh, we are not in a position to connect in those regions. So we tie-up with regional channels like News Live and other local channels to ensure that we get the right news. These are all situation based tie-ups. While we don’t have formal associations with anyone, we have very strong informal understandings with channels across the country.

     

    If news was not a viewership and advertising led business in India, would you have followed the same form of journalism? Is this a rating led Arnab Goswami?

    Let me answer this in this way, there was no guarantee that the formats I was getting into would be successful. Without the guarantee, why did I start the format? Because I believed in it. I was a debater since I was in class seven. I think sometimes when you do things that you like, it works. TV is a transparent medium, you cannot lie on television or pretend to be something you are not. All those who pretend and lie, fail. And the ones who do things with honesty and purpose will succeed. So what we want is a group of producers and journalist saying, we want to see it the way it is. Sitting in Mumbai in the media business I couldn’t care less if it works or it doesn’t. I am not a Santa Clause. I’m not here to get affection or be popular. I am here to be relevant.

     

    How to you react to the perception that Times Now is as good as Arnab Goswami and that it’s a one man show? You must have heard it every now and then.

    I am the leader of my team of reporters and producers. I am as good as my team. My team believes in that and we work together. We are fortunate to have India’s best reporters working with us. I feel proud when I see a reporter who has just been with me for a year, covering a big political story. When we depute people for foreign assignments, I feel proud. We are the only channel to send reporters with the Prime Minister on his foreign visits. We deploy our reporters far quicker than our competition. Our speed of deploying reporters in a news space is far quicker than any other channel in India. If we need to deploy a particular person in a particular place, nobody can do it quicker than me and my logistics team. So in terms of production and logistics, we are far smarter than any other news channel in India. I cannot do anything about perception and frankly, I don’t care.

     

    Very often we see your peers from other media firms sharing their dislike for you. Does that somehow affect you?

    Since we have beaten every news channels in last ten years, I don’t expect to be liked by news channels and journalists. Since me and my team are not doing traditional journalism, I don’t expect the ones doing traditional journalism to like me. Also while we take away 60 per cent of the market share, the others are scrambling for the remaining 40 per cent. I don’t expect the ones scrambling for the 40 per cent to like me. How does it even matter if they don’t like me?

     

    How do you approach a legal sub-judice story?

    Generally when an issue goes to the realm of courts, we pull down. Most of the breaking stories like the 2G or CWG scams, we push with debates and discussions till the point it goes to the court. And once it goes to the court, we kind of pull back. We believe once it has gone to court, the court should look into it. We do not interfere in the judicial process.

     

    Social media is breaking stories in bits and bytes from every nook and corner. The news of Abdul Kalam’s death broke on Twitter. Do you see that impacting TV news?

    Breaking a big exclusive story has not yet happened on social media. But it’s good that social media is keeping us informed about things happening around us. That’s one thing but remember in the case of Abdul Kalam, we are talking about the demise of a former President. We will not put it up till we have an official confirmation. So there is no reason to presume that we did not have the news. It’s just that at times, we choose not to put the news till we receive official information on it.

     

    Your gut feeling and people management has taken Times Now to new heights in the last 10 years. The characteristics are exactly what is required for an entrepreneur. How far are you from your entrepreneurship voyage?

    Let’s see what happens in the future. Who can predict what happens in the future? I want to do nothing but journalism till my last breath. I want to do journalism in a way that we can make Indian media go global in the digital world. I want to do journalism in a way that people coming out of colleges should feel that the first job they want to do is with this team.

     

    The joy is in the journey and the journey for me is only journalism till the last breath. There may be many vehicles, Times Now itself has been an entrepreneurial journey for me. I never predict the future but the future can take me anywhere. Let’s see.

  • TIMES NOW completes 10 impactful years of action-oriented leadership and success

    TIMES NOW completes 10 impactful years of action-oriented leadership and success

    MUMBAI:  India’s No 1 English News Channel has completed 10 successful and momentous years. Over the last 8 years, it has remained the most popular and impactful channel, because of its action-oriented approach to news, driven by the highest standards of professional journalism. The channel was launched on 31st January 2006.

    Within just two years of its 2006 launch, TIMES NOW raced away to become the biggest English news channel, and ever since, has remained India’s most popular and impactful television news channel – one that has delivered for the consumers and business associates, and most importantly for society and the Nation.

    M K Anand, CEO&MD – Times Network, says, “TIMES NOW is a truly iconic news channel respected for its committed, action-oriented, professional and impactful journalism. TIMES NOW, NewsHour and Arnab Goswami are household names. It’s hard to imagine that just a decade ago, we did not have this mega brand. TIMES NOW like other young global mega media brands is a reflection of what has changed in human society in the 21st century and what still endures as true and good. Over the last 10 years, TIMES NOW has led the nation’s discourse by stimulating collective national thought and resultant action and has become a strong agent of change. It is this drive that has not only made TIMES NOW India’s most impactful News Channel, but has also taken it to over 80 countries around the globe.”

    Arnab Goswami, President, News, Editor-in-Chief of TIMES NOW, ET NOW and Magicbricks NOW, the original architect of the soul of TIMES NOW, its content,  says, “Ten years ago, when we set about planning to create TIMES NOW, we questioned the old belief that news should remain just reported and hence a monologue. We asked ourselves: Why shouldn’t news be information plus added perspective of different news makers and thought leaders thrown in? Even as we innovated on strategy, questioned old formats, and infused news with speed, throughout, we have remained unwavering in our mission to maintain the highest ethical and professional standards of news reportage. We are committed to ensuring that relevant news does not remain hidden from the public, and that it sparks opinion, debate, and corrective action.”

     “Through our approach to television news journalism, we have changed, forever, the way news was presented in India. As a result, TIMES NOW boasts of an exceptional top-of-mind recall. 

    “I am grateful to my entire team for their belief, abilities, commitment and dedication, and for all the hard work they put in unfailingly each day, which has helped make TIMES NOW the incomparable channel it is.”

  • TIMES NOW completes 10 impactful years of action-oriented leadership and success

    TIMES NOW completes 10 impactful years of action-oriented leadership and success

    MUMBAI:  India’s No 1 English News Channel has completed 10 successful and momentous years. Over the last 8 years, it has remained the most popular and impactful channel, because of its action-oriented approach to news, driven by the highest standards of professional journalism. The channel was launched on 31st January 2006.

    Within just two years of its 2006 launch, TIMES NOW raced away to become the biggest English news channel, and ever since, has remained India’s most popular and impactful television news channel – one that has delivered for the consumers and business associates, and most importantly for society and the Nation.

    M K Anand, CEO&MD – Times Network, says, “TIMES NOW is a truly iconic news channel respected for its committed, action-oriented, professional and impactful journalism. TIMES NOW, NewsHour and Arnab Goswami are household names. It’s hard to imagine that just a decade ago, we did not have this mega brand. TIMES NOW like other young global mega media brands is a reflection of what has changed in human society in the 21st century and what still endures as true and good. Over the last 10 years, TIMES NOW has led the nation’s discourse by stimulating collective national thought and resultant action and has become a strong agent of change. It is this drive that has not only made TIMES NOW India’s most impactful News Channel, but has also taken it to over 80 countries around the globe.”

    Arnab Goswami, President, News, Editor-in-Chief of TIMES NOW, ET NOW and Magicbricks NOW, the original architect of the soul of TIMES NOW, its content,  says, “Ten years ago, when we set about planning to create TIMES NOW, we questioned the old belief that news should remain just reported and hence a monologue. We asked ourselves: Why shouldn’t news be information plus added perspective of different news makers and thought leaders thrown in? Even as we innovated on strategy, questioned old formats, and infused news with speed, throughout, we have remained unwavering in our mission to maintain the highest ethical and professional standards of news reportage. We are committed to ensuring that relevant news does not remain hidden from the public, and that it sparks opinion, debate, and corrective action.”

     “Through our approach to television news journalism, we have changed, forever, the way news was presented in India. As a result, TIMES NOW boasts of an exceptional top-of-mind recall. 

    “I am grateful to my entire team for their belief, abilities, commitment and dedication, and for all the hard work they put in unfailingly each day, which has helped make TIMES NOW the incomparable channel it is.”

  • Times Network’s property news channel MagicBricks Now to beam from 1 November

    Times Network’s property news channel MagicBricks Now to beam from 1 November

    NEW DELHI: MagicBricks Now, a new real estate and property channel from the Times Group, was today formally launched by Urban Development Minister M Venkaiah Naidu, who said television channels should learn to differentiate between news and views so that the people could discern the real situation themselves.

    The Minister said he was happy to know that Times Network is launching a news channel to create a platform for the real estate and housing sector “because it is going to partner with me in our plans to provide housing for everyone by 2032.” He said that the aim of the government was housing for all and smart cities and around Rs 4 lakh crore had been set aside for this.

    Initially slated to be called Property Now, the channel was re-christened as MagicBricks Now and will begin beaming from 1 November.

    The prime sponsor is the real estate website MagicBricks.com.which is a Times Internet property. Other confirmed sponsors include Lotus Greens Developers, Hirannadani and Mantri Developers.

    Magicbricks Now will be distributed across all direct to home (DTH) and cable platforms and is already present on all platforms, which carry the Times Network’s channels. However, it will not be available on DD’s Freedish as it is a pay channel. 

    Times Group MD and CEO M K Anand told Indiantelevision.com that research had been carried out in six cities before the channel was launched. The research group had talked to thousands of people who wanted to buy property but were confused about how they could get the money and cross various bureaucratic or other hurdles.

    Anand said that it had been found in the research that there were two types of people who wanted to buy property. One was the investor who was clearly looking at only buying to sell when prices rose, and the other was the layman who wanted to either buy property for personal stay or buy a second property to earn some income through rent. 

    He said both these categories of buyers had diametrically opposite ways of behaviour and the aim would be to bring the two together.

    Speaking at a press meet later, Anand expressed confidence that the channel will break even in four to five years. He said the ad base in the country was around 40 per cent, of which the Times Group had a significant share.

    Terming MagicBricks Now as a ‘property cousin’ of business channels, he added it was a real estate rather than a media endeavour. 

    In answer to a question, he said that most people felt recession was the best time to buy property and investments were made only with a futuristic profit in view. “If the media gives correct and real analysis, people will come forward to put money in property,” he added. The aim was also to facilitate an understanding of the processes of the government with regards to property. 

    The 24×7 channel will target NCCS A and B viewers in the 25-37 and 38-50 years age groups. In viewer profile terms, it will target both consumers who are looking to buy, sell or rent real estate, and businesses and service providers like brokers, builders, interior decorators, paint companies and others.

    MagicBricks Now editor Faye D’Souza added, “It has been found that most people were confused about laws relating to property and real estate and the effort would be to declutter the various laws so the common man understands how he can go about purchasing the property.”

    D’Souza informed that the channel would be multilingual so that it could reach all viewers.

    MagicBricks Now will be using the prime time band of 7.30 pm to 10.30 pm to reach out to the common buyer. The channel will also have separate weekend programming, including live programmes where people could ask questions from experts in the studio. “the channel will have around two hours of live shows every weekend,” D’Souza added.

    The channel will have shows on Vaastu and décor, etc, along with feature shows including some from the overseas market.

    “MagicBricks Now has a singular focus – on the end consumer. It will offer a rich array of programs that range from news bulletins to property hotlines, debates, leadership insights and more. These will not just keep the end consumer informed, but will serve as a common meeting ground for knowledge-driven individual buyers, sellers and businesses looking seriously at the world of property and real estate,” she said.

    Marquee channel programming includes The Property Guide, The Home Buyer’s Guide, Property Hotline, The Interiors Show, The Vastu Show, Real Estate Tycoons and, of course, The News, every hour on the hour.

    Speaking about the association with Times Network to create the new channel, Magicbricks.com CEO Sudhir Pai said, “Magicbricks is delighted to be a part of this initiative with the Times Network. Our endeavour has always been to make our brand ubiquitous across media so as to provide consumers with rich and in-depth information when it comes to matters of property. With this association we leverage the visual appeal of television to communicate our rich data and analytics in an easy-to-consume manner for the consumer. With this launch, we strengthen the offering and make ourselves available at every touch point to consumers.”